


The Tidal Rebellion

by thescyfychannel



Series: at the end of the stars [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: All for the sake of one life, And he doesn't plan on coming home, In which Eridan Ampora starts a war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2017-12-30 10:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thescyfychannel/pseuds/thescyfychannel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Trust me, my lady. They'll see us comin' from far off--we'll be the oncomin' wave, an' they won't stand a ghost of a chance."</p><p>SOON TO BE UNDERGOING MASSIVE OVERHAUL AND EDITS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. South Swell

There are things every good rebellion needs.

To start with, you need a villain. An oppressive system, an uneven society. You need something to _strive_ against.

Then you need a symbol, something that everyone can stand for. An idea, a person, a way of life. It's never hard to find a symbol, but it can be hard to find something to stand for.

Then you need a leader, someone that people will genuinely want to follow. Someone charismatic enough to bring together trolls from all walks of life, someone who brings out such loyalty in their followers that they would _gladly_ follow them into the Handmaid's embrace. This can be harder to find —there are many trolls with fire and flame in their speeches, but it is far harder to find one who actually means their words, and would be willing to lead the battle.

You would need an army. Trolls who could fight, who knew what they were doing. You would need experts, who understood that it was not a game, and sometimes you need to put the enemy down hard enough that they would not stand up again. A battle could make an army soon enough.

You needed officers, trolls who could handle logistics of supply, trolls who could craft armor, trolls who were able to teach others to fight as well as they could. They were difficult to find, rare and priceless.

And you would need a commander. Someone who understood tactics, who knew the battlefields inside and out. Someone who could make the hard decisions of what to sacrifice, and where, no matter how much the guilt cut them to shreds. Someone who was willing to fight on the battlefield, or plan out a strategy. At times, they might overlap with the leader, but delegation was never a bad thing.

 

And Eridan Ampora, commander of the Tidal Rebellion, was beginning to realize that every good rebellion needed a spymaster.

 

* * *

 

It has been approximately six sweeps since you ruined your entire life. Technically, it was a little less than that, but the moment you decided not to kill the troll who had attacked you for Seahorsedad was the moment that the tides of history turned. So six sweeps it is, and has been, and it's starting to wear on you. You've had to find time to hunt for Fef's lusus amidst running the rebellion (and not slacking off there is more important now than ever) and between running _everythin_ _g_ , training with Fef, and acting as spymaster, you're not really sure when you've been sleeping.

Things were a hell of a lot easier six sweeps ago. You'd simply decided not to cull the absolutely _lovely_ seadweller who'd attacked you. Even three sweeps ago, things were easier. Three sweeps ago you'd gotten into an argument with Kar, and he'd laid it all out for you.

More accurately, he'd shouted at you until something had worked its way into your think pan.

_"You self-obsessed hypocritical asshole! You're so busy flaunting your so-called hemoistic superiority that you don't even fucking realize that your own MOIRAIL is at the top of the cull list!"_

He'd actually gone on way longer than that, but you'd been too shell-shocked for anything else to sink in. Because he was _right_ , even Tav and Kar had a better chance of surviving Ascension, and they were both related to the worst disgraces in the history of the Empire. And they _still_ had a better life expectancy than Feferi, for all of her royal blood and peerless lineage.

 

You didn't sleep at all that day. Instead, you spent the whole day (and next night too) in your paltry library, reading through book after book, about Imperial Challenges. Were there any loopholes? Any Heiresses who had survived, who had slipped through the cracks? Because that couldn't be right, that couldn't be the case. Fef was a _highblood_ , Fef was _the_ highblood, and the thought that all of your fighting and orphaning, to keep her alive and safe, that all of it had been for nothing...it was nearly too much to bear.

Seahorsedad nearly kicked you into your recuperacoon the next day, and you sank into sopor-addled sleep. The next evening, Feferi's frantic message woke you up, it was feeding time, and what the shell is going on, Eridan, are you alright!? Admittedly, you'd both built some leeway into the thing, but it was a close call.

Fef spent the next night trolling you, all pale with worry, and you would've been happy for her concern if you hadn't been so frantic. There was absolutely nothing, not even when you bribed Captor to set up a connection secure enough to talk to Ter about it. Absolutely nothing.

 

The next day, you messaged Feferi. _wwe need to talk_ popped up on her screen and she'd taken no more than a minute to get back to you. _I'll come by after you're done )(unting!_

 

She'd surprised you, and the thought still made you chuckle. Fef had plans for the crown and the throne and the empire, and the fact that )(er Imperious Condescension was a dirty cheat didn't even factor into them. That was fine by you, she didn't need to worry about that sort of thing. But you did need her thinking that it wouldn't do to simply challenge the Condesce. That the Empire wouldn't accept her radical ideas for change unless she made a good showing to back them up. It took a perigee, but you had your girl planning a revolution, the likes of which Alternia hadn't seen since the Summoner.

And once she was on board, you started making your own plans and advancing them. Fef could be an idealist, that was fine and perfect, but she didn't understand a thing about supply lines or battlefields or treason. That fell to you, and you set up your pieces as if this was some grand game of chess against the Condesce. There were trolls to be recruited and supplies to procure.

 

Karkat Vantas and Tavros Nitram were your main goals. Tav, because you were highblooded enough to have access to records of the Summoner, not to mention that bribery still worked remarkably well on Vris. The Descendant of the Summoner would certainly pull lowbloods to the cause. Kar, because he had a funny way of pulling people together. It could be hard to notice under all the shouting, but at the end of the day, it was there. And then at eight sweeps he'd turned out to be related to one of the most excoriated figures in the Empire, and you'd not been able to cease grinning for a week. Troll serendipity laughs in the face of cullslates and censure.

Kar signed on first. Despite his plans to be a Threshecutioner, he'd decided that being alive was definitely preferrable. Not to mention there was every possibility that Feferi would give him the post anyway. It was practical, and you weren't going to complain. Karkat managed to get Terezi onboard, once she'd realized that she'd have a chance to prosecute at what might be the most renowned trial in all of troll history.

And he'd brought in Nepeta, who you'd set to work on Equius (with a little help from Fef), and nearly everything had sort of fallen into place from there. Kanaya had been simple, and the two of you had worked to convince Vriska, who was still on your watch list. Most of the time. Gamzee and Karkat were moirails, so there went a foregone conclusion, and Tavros had brought Aradia in easily, once you'd convinced Vriska to pass along the history of his Ancestor.

 

So you had your villain, and your symbol. You had your leader, and your officers and experts were starting to fall into place. Word was beginning to spread that something was shaking in the depths of the ocean. And slowly, quietly, you started building up an _army_.

 

* * *

 

Some days, you lay half-sunk in sopor, staring up at the ceiling and wondering what the hell you're doing. You've given up more than any of them. Gamzee would be culled for his slime addiction, or barely skim by on blood, and you were sure that Equius might have managed to do well for himself. Vriska was a toss up. Too dangerous, too traitorous, for all that she was cerulean and brilliant. Terezi would have thrived, delighting in the halls of legislacerators and not giving anyone a chance to question her "disability". And since her lusus had hatched, there wouldn't be anyone left alive who did. Kanaya would be stuck in the caverns, theoretically. None of you were entirely certain if they were fully drone-run or not. Nepeta and Karkat would have been dead, on account of past treason and mutation, Sollux would be a starship, and Tavros would be up on the cullslate in moments. Aradia, blameless and rust, would only have a few sweeps to live.

Whereas you would have a tidy commission on a ship of the Empire. Honestly, you'd taken a turn past well-prepared about two sweeps and five hundred husktablets ago. Your lineage and military prowess would elevate you to commander of the fleet in a hundred sweeps, two hundred at the outside. Your title would have gone down in the history books, and whatever end you met, you would have been certain to leave a hell of a legacy for your descendant.

And now you had signed away your destiny. You had willingly handed in your chance at fame and fortune, and if things went wrong, you had essentially signed your own death warrant. Minamina a me kaumaha.

And some days you wondered whether it was worth it. If it would still be worth it, when you face the noose at the end of it all. Even if you won this one, you weren't coming home, there was no happy ending for a war criminal, ever—

 

Then Fef would message you with her latest suggestion, or Kar would call to gripe (brag) about the latest group of trainees and you'd roll out of your 'coon, still half-asleep, and you'd keep moving forward. They were worth fighting a war for, they were worth taking on the universe, and you would never admit it, but the rest of your (maybe sort of definitely) friends were too.

And there were even times when you enjoyed it, how could you not? You had been hatched for the sake of warfare, and as long as you pretended each squad you sent out wasn't actually a set of trolls, you enjoyed yourself. When one of _your_ trainees made progress, when you'd set up your first squad. There hadn't been a single  _real_ battle yet, but every time you laid out more information about the enemy's forces and tactics, you felt a kind of glow. Every time your squads brought back one more troll, saved one more wriggler whose lusus you'd needed to take.

As long as you waited until after the battles to put faces to names to numbers to losses, you were fine.

 

But stars and seas, you were tired.

 

You'd been playing at commander and spymaster for the past two sweeps, and it was a tribute to your lack of skill at the second that most of your communications were not online. There was no one on your team who could measure up to the Imperial Hackerenders. Ancestors be damned, you hated that stupidly pretentious name as much as you hated playing the spook. But there wasn't anyone else who could do it, and they _needed_ you.

The whole rebellion would have gone down in flames if it weren't for you, and there was still a danger of that if you _couldn't get some fucking sleep_.

And you were going to hang all of this on the horns of one Sollux Captor, who was being a pissblooded asshole and refusing to message you. Or leave his goddamned hiveblock for more than an hour at a time. If you could just get him away from there...

 

Kar had flipped his shit when you'd ordered him not to recruit Sol. It had taken half an hour to convince him to hear you out, then hours upon hours of discussion and speech which basically amounted to they've no doubt bugged his entire hive and all of his communications, if we so much as squeak at sedition around him we'll all be fried. The egotistical bastard could probably circumvent all of the issues if he knew what to look for, but none of you could actually tell him anything first. Fuckin' catch-22, right there, and no matter what the lot of you invited him out for, he wouldn't go. And hell, he was even starting to get suspicious at the wrong trolls.

You'd had to stop pestering him a sweep ago when he'd threatened to blow your husktop into orbit if you didn't shut up.

 

You needed sleep. You needed someone who could handle spying and other shit. You needed someone who could do logistics as well as you could without tripping over the numbers and cringing at the thought of rations. You needed someone who could be cold and precise and detached and amongst all of your friends that came up to a short list of one.

The one bloody troll who couldn't be bothered to give you a chance to speak to him, pissblooded paranoid asshole that he was.

The next time you saw him you were going to punch him in the face. Hard.

 

* * *

 

After a particularly brutal discussion of politics— _CA: cant this wwait until wwevve ACTUALLY wwon the damn wwar_ —between Kar and Fef that had lasted all day, you were looking forward to your 'coon for once. Being so close to the Speaker of the Vast Glub did nothing to ease your dayterrors, and the sheer amount of idealistic idiocy that those two could pitch back and forth had nearly melted a hole in your pan. Not to mention so much time around lowbloods was making their vocabulary seep into yours, nearly a criminal offense.

But it was sort of nice that the two of them could still do that. Especially once you'd set them on each other, and they'd debated the merits of Feferi's new culling system until one of them realized that you'd not slept for the past...two nights, was it? Then they'd ganged up on you and badgered you off to sleep, not that you were actually arguing.

The ablutio— _shower_ , would still be there in the evening, so you shucked your clothes as you went, heaving yourself over the side of the 'coon with an exhausted sigh.

 

Two minutes 'til eventide, and your husktop bleeped.

 

\-- twinArmageddons [ TA ] began trolling caligulasAquarium [ CA ] --

TA: 2o 2hould ii a22ume you were actually up all niight, or were you ju2t dumb enough two fall a2leep wiith the hu2ktop on?  
TA: eheheheh. that'2 a new level of iincompetence, even for you.


	2. North Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a nuisancy troll might be recruited.

The noise jerked you right out of your dreamless slumber, and you spared a moment to thank your past self for having the foresight to lock your recuperacoon down properly. "Tipped 'coon is the last thing I'd need right now," you grumbled, shoving yourself out of it and hurrying to the ablution trap. Shower. _Dammit_.

A cursory shower might have been more _sensible_ , but some habits died hard, even during the burning of a rebellion, even though you _might_ have set a special alert tone for Captor (only because getting his help was your most _important_ task at the moment, of course), and you had to admit you relished the thought of making Captor wait for a reply until you were good and ready. You took your time in there, cleaning out your gills and scrubbing the slime out of every inch of your too-shaggy hair. Probably far past time to get it cut, but there hadn't been time for much of anything of late.

And _then_ you rushed through drying off and made do with tugging on whatever clean clothes you had at hand, because this was a _war_ , dammit, and you had _things to do_.

 

 

CA: considerin that its been ages since wwe talked im astounded that youre tryin to cast aspersions on my competence

CA: captor you wwouldnt evven believve wwhat im capable of

TA: you're the one who 2tarted trolliing me, buddy.

TA: ooh, hiighblood threat2, ii'm 2o terriifiied. hey tell me iif you can 2mell the fear through trolliian ok ii'm doiing an experiiment.

CA: oh go fuck yourself

CA: dont evven knoww wwhy i tried contactin you in the first place

TA: ii mean my per2onal theory ii2 that you've FIINALLY 2uffered enough pan damage two thiink you actually 2tand a chance agaiin2t me hu2ktop-wii2e, but hey, ii'm an optiimii2t.

TA: 2ometiime2.

CA: unfortunately for your OPTIMISM its nothin like that

CA: in fact im startin to think that i wwas a little bit too optimisitic in evven makin the attempt to talk to you

CA: your bees havve probably already filled up your brains past their capacity

TA: wow, ok. 2ee, thii2 ii2 why ii threatened two blow your hu2ktop up.

TA: ii could 2tiill do iit, you know.

TA: iin fact iit'2 2tartiing two 2ound liike a GREAT iidea.

CA: i really doubt you could captor

CA: youre all fuss and no fight HELL i bet youre such an INCOMPETENT hacker that i could secure a trollian connection faster than you could and i havvent evven had a NIGHT of trainin

CA: KARS probably better at this shit than you are

TA: ...

twinArmaggedons secured the connection! Faster than you ever could.

TA: fuck you.

CA: oh thank fuck

TA: ok ngl that wa2 NOT the reactiion ii expected.

CA: you cant fault me for bein grateful that wwe can speak privvately

CA: are you SURE the connection is secure

TA: ii 2tg ii really WIILL blow up your hu2ktop iif you keep doubtiing my 2kiill2.

TA: why all the 2ecrecy??

TA: ii2 perfect mr. hiighblood up two no good? t2k t2k how naughty.

CA: in my defense its not QUITE on the scale of a revvolution yet

TA: ...

TA: holy 2HIIT.

TA: ii wa2 jokiing!!

TA: do you 2ERIIOU2LY expect me two beliieve that all of thii2 2hiit ha2 been YOU??

CA: uh

CA: yes

TA: ii need a moment.

TA: eriidan ampora, ERIIDAN AMPORA, 2eadweller 2upreme wiith a MAJOR 2TIICK UP HII2 WA2TE CHUTE, ii2 behiind the rebelliion ii've been hearing whii2per2 about 2iince iit BEGAN.

TA: ii mean?? prop2 two you?? ii had no fuckiing clue you were behiind thii2 2hiit, lmao.

CA: yeah ivve uh

CA: ivve changed a fair bit i think

CA: although i dont expect you to believve that out with substantial evvidence

 

You settle back in your chair. Other than his annoyance over...everything, probably, he seems to be taking this rather well. Maybe there's a chance you can pull this off with a minimum of hassle after all. Then you groan, and run a hand through your still-damp hair. Fucking _optimism_. You need to plan for shit, not hope everything will turn out alright. That's the fastest way to get everyone killed.

 

TA: 2o why am ii only heariing about thii2 now.

CA: didnt wwant you compromised by someone sayin somethin in your earshot

CA: or rather in a drones earshot

CA: your hivvestems full of psionics wwhich means its more than likely RIDDLED wwith shit to spy wwith

CA: so wwe all decided that it wwould be

CA: uh

CA: safer

CA: if the information came from someone wwith VVERY vvisible hemoloyalties and wwith wwhom you shared a contentious past

TA: well don't YOU fiit the fuckiing biill.

TA: 2o why are you telliing me NOW, huh??

CA: i need your help

 

His account immediately switches to idle. You're going to assume that's out of shock, and not anything more nefarious. You're going to _have_ to assume. Now is _not_ the time to get swallowed up in paranoia, you cannot _afford_ to get dragged down into yet _another_ daymare, he's perfectly fine, he's perfectly fine, he's–

 

TA: what do you need.

CA: i need a spymaster

TA: ii thiink ii can help you wiith that.


End file.
